Why do liberals play computer games like conservatives?By Monica Potts

I eventually got the hang of The Sims, the best-selling computer game in history, and my Sim self became productive and happy. She always reached the top of her career, her children always did well in school, and she always had enough money for a comfortable simulated life. Another pattern emerged as well, one that I feel powerless to stop: My Sims are conservative. I`m in complete control of them, but for some reason their lives aren`t anything like the life I consider ideal in the real world. I`m a feminist graduate of an all-women`s college who has vowed to never change my name or end my career to raise children full time—though I would never undervalue the work that many women do in their home. By contrast, my Sims rarely remain single long into adulthood. My wives always take their husbands` last names. They don`t just have children; they bear lots of them. And they leave their careers to take on the lion`s share of care-giving duties.

... It`s always difficult for liberals to figure out how much they should enjoy pop culture that contradicts their values. ... Video games are just the newest medium through which our social mores are expressed, and questioning whether they do so accurately and responsibly is a natural corollary to their ascendancy.

I blame some of my right-of-center leanings on the structures of the games themselves. Having children has the added bonus of extending game time in The Sims, because I get to continue to play the same family as the generations roll by.

Unlike in the real world, where people get to trade in their children and grandchildren.